“Paddington in Peru” is the third installment of the “Paddington” movie franchise and maintains all the charm of the first two despite a recasting and new director.
The film follows the titular Paddington Brown (Ben Whishaw) as he travels to his home country of Peru with his family, the Browns (Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris) to visit his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) at the Home for Retired Bears. Once arriving they find out that Aunt Lucy has gone missing in the Amazon and must go on a journey with the help of Reverend Mother (Olivia Coleman) and Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas) to find her.
Paul King did not return to direct this movie, although he still wrote it, and in his place is Dougal Wilson. This creates a somewhat different feel for the first bit of “Paddington in Peru,” but even with this change it maintains the incredibly heartwarming nature of the first two movies. There are also many more aspects of adventure movies than the previous ones and this makes the beginning feel different outside of the new director. Paddington Brown is the same charming little bear that we all know and love.
The performances were as good as they’ve been in the previous movies. Ben Whishaw is incredibly endearing as Paddington and leads the movie dutifully. By far the biggest change is Emily Mortimer replacing Sally Hawkins as Mary Brown. Obviously the character doesn’t feel exactly the same, but she grows into the role throughout the runtime and seems like a worthy successor. Olivia Coleman is great as Reverend Mother and honestly, there wasn’t enough of her in the movie. Antonio Banderas was great as the villain and was just campy enough to fit perfectly into the world of “Paddington.”
The graphics are fantastic all the way through. Paddington Brown looks the best he ever has along with the environments. Much of the Amazon Rainforest that they explore was done in CGI and it looks incredible throughout the entire movie. There weren’t really any moments where the special effects faltered for even a second, and if there were, they weren’t noticeable enough to matter.
Filled with funny, heartwarmingly tear-jerking, and beautiful family moments, “Paddington in Peru” is a fantastic continuation of the franchise and a great movie for the whole family.
Directed by: Dougal Wilson
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Coleman, Julie Walters, Carla Tous, Imelda Staunton
Rated PG
Runtime: 106 minutes
My Rating: ★★★★½
This article originally appeared in the March 2025 edition of The Commuter.